Ringing In
by AussieBullDog
Summary: Two-part series. The Scooby Gang ring in the New Year in Sunnydale, while in LA, the Willow Investigations crew do the same. Very AU. Pairings include Buffy/Xander, Willow/Angel, Faith/Oz, and Fred/Drusilla.
1. New Year In Sunnydale

TITLE: New Year In Sunnydale (Part 1 of "Ringing In" series)  
  
AUTHOR: BulldogPhilbo  
  
RATING: PG  
  
FEEDBACK: See, it's this thing where you read someone else's fic, then you tell the person what you thought of it. The person gets enough good feedback, they keep writing. Everybody wins.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon? Yes. Me? No. Enough said.  
  
DISTRIBUTION: You want it? You can have it. Just let me know where to see it.  
  
PAIRINGS: Buffy/Xander, Fred/Drusilla  
  
SUMMARY: In an alternate Sunnydale, The Scooby Gang ring in the New Year.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This fic is the first part of a two-part series. Watching the New Year's celebrations on TV inspired me to write this story. And as luck would have it, I finished writing this first part just as the final ten seconds were counted down and the fireworks kicked in. This is my first attempt at writing something on the light and fluffy side, so I hope it doesn't suck.  
  
***  
  
"Buffy?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Are there any more cookies?"  
  
"Just ate the last one."  
  
"More like the last five."  
  
"There's still half a tuna sandwich."  
  
"Am I supposed to find that amusing?"  
  
"That, and everything else about me. Amusing, entertaining, lovable, and extra cute."  
  
"Cookie hog."  
  
"Oh, sure. I'm supposed to take that criticism from a guy who just today ate seven hot dogs uninterrupted for lunch and washed them down with four cans of Coke?"  
  
"Excuse me? Seven hot dogs? I'll think you'll find that I had no more than ..."  
  
"You had seven. Remember? I was there. I saw it."  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
Buffy Summers smiled, and snuggled closer to her boyfriend's side. "Besides, I can always tell when you're lying. Your upper lip shrinks to half its original size."  
  
"It does not." Instinctively, Xander Harris' hand shot up to his face to feel his top lip. His girlfriend laughed out loud. Xander favoured Buffy with an expression that was part irritation, part amusement. "Well, I'd say that makes it official. I just can't put anything past you, can I?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
Xander put an arm around Buffy's shoulders, and looked over at the huge picnic blanket spread out a few feet away from them. Fred and Drusilla sat side by side on the blanket, holding hands, and talking idly. Buffy followed her boyfriend's gaze, and smiled. She was glad to see the two Wiccas had reconciled their differences and sorted out their personal problems. Fred had scared pretty much everybody in the group for a little while there with her seemingly growing addiction to using magic and doing spells, but the accident which left Lindsey with his right arm in a cast had probably been a blessing in disguise. For the first time, Fred had fully realised just how dangerous her powers had become to those closest to her, and she resolved to put all of her efforts into resisting the attractive pull of the unpredictable magicks she had begun to channel. And seeing Fred's genuine desire to want to turn things around for herself, Dru had promised to remain by her side for as long as Fred needed her to be, and to help her in any way possible.  
  
Xander soon noticed someone was missing from the group, and turned back to Buffy. "Hey, I thought Tara would be here by now."  
  
"She must still be patrolling," Buffy offered in reply.  
  
"What, tonight? New Year's Eve, and Gunn's got Tara in the middle of a stake-a-rama, instead of here with us in the park celebrating like she should be?"  
  
"The humans may take New Year's Eve off, Xand, but the vamps don't. The only holiday they spend inside is Halloween. You know that. Certainly Gunn does his best to drum that fact into us every October. Even though we always end up having to fight off some creepy monster with three eyes and six legs every Halloween night anyway."  
  
"Well, I hope she gets here soon. It's almost 11:30. We can't have a Sunnydale New Year's celebration without the Slayer with us to help count down the final seconds."  
  
Buffy looked over at the two witches again. "Hey, Dru!" she called out. Drusilla was only a few feet away, but Buffy had to raise her voice to be heard over the crowd noise. Drusilla heard her fine, though, and looked back at her. "Tara said she was gonna be here, right?"  
  
"She said she was gonna try. Gunn's been working her pretty hard lately, though. He says there's supposed to be some new dark power that's supposed to rise tonight in a crypt across town."  
  
"I don't think Gunn is doing his best work lately," Fred added, smiling a little. "All that jet lag travelling back and forth between L.A. and London is tiring him out." Drusilla giggled, and reached across to grab a handful of popcorn from the tub Fred held in her hands.  
  
"Tiring who out?" an all-too-familiar voice asked from behind Buffy. She looked up at the source of the voice, and her heart sank.  
  
"What are you doing here, Lindsey?" Xander asked.  
  
The fifteen-year-old folded his arms, and smiled smugly. His bright blue eyes sparkled with mischief. His cast was off, and his irritating manner had returned with a vengeance. "Tara said I could come hang out with the group as long as I didn't wander off on my own. So you're all stuck with me, like it or not." To prove his point, the teenager stuck his tongue out at Xander, who merely glared at the annoying teen, then crossed over to the picnic blanket upon which the two Wiccas were seated, sat down next to Fred, and grabbed a handful of popcorn out of her tub. He then proceeded to cram the entire handful into his mouth at once.  
  
"Lindsey!" Fred exclaimed.  
  
Lindsey looked up at Fred with raised eyebrows, and an expression that looked just a little too innocent to be believable. "Whub?" he asked around his mouthful of popcorn. Fred just sighed, took some popcorn for herself, and handed the tub to Dru, out of the teenager's reach. Lindsey just grinned. He didn't care. He had already gotten what he came over for. Time to go bug Buffy and Xander some more.  
  
***  
  
Ten minutes later, Buffy and Xander had just about had it with the kid. Lindsey just wouldn't shut up, bombarding the couple with question after question. Xander had given up on trying to shut the kid up a good five minutes ago, leaving Buffy to handle the seemingly impossible task solo.  
  
"Why don't vampires stay in on New Year's Eve?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Why don't they come out on Halloween?"  
  
"Because they don't."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know. Because they just don't."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Lindsey, shut up."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Quick as a flash, Xander reached out, grabbed a handful of Lindsey's T- shirt, and pulled the teenager in close, so the two of them were face to face, eye to eye, almost touching noses. Speaking to Lindsey, Xander tried to make his voice sound as menacing and intimidating as possible. "Listen, kid. You may like to brag to all your little snot-nosed friends about how your big sister can beat all of their big brothers up, but that doesn't do anything to impress me. Now, you've got two choices. You can sit down and stay quiet while we ring in the New Year, or you can waddle on home with the imprint of my sneaker firmly stamped onto your backside. What's it gonna be, huh?"  
  
"Oooooooh," Lindsey taunted, his voice dripping with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "You're so scary! Mr. Big Macho Guy who can only do anything tough three nights a month when it's werewolf season."  
  
"Well then, I'll have to keep that in mind the next time werewolf season rolls around."  
  
"That's not for two weeks," Lindsey continued to taunt.  
  
Xander nodded. "I know. Actually, it's about a week and a half. January 11th. Night before the full moon. I'll have to remember to keep my cage door open that night so I can come looking for you once the sun sets."  
  
"My sister'll just beat you up if you try anything."  
  
"Maybe I won't do anything," the Slayer's voice rang out from behind them. "Maybe I'll just let him eat you up."  
  
"Hey, Tara," Buffy greeted the Slayer. "Dark evil monster rise tonight?"  
  
"Yeah, but I dealt with it," Tara answered. "Big check in the slay column. Guy never knew what he was up against."  
  
Lindsey stood up, and turned to face his big sister. "It'd be just like you to stand up and let me get eaten by a werewolf! You're the Slayer!" He pointed at Xander. "You're supposed to fight evil monsters like him, not let them eat innocent people like me!"  
  
"That's funny," Tara retorted. "I can't remember you ever being worthy of being called an innocent person."  
  
"I am!" Lindsey insisted, putting his hands on his hips for best effect during his tirade.  
  
"Well, since you're so innocent," Tara said, "then it can't have been you who came into my room last night while I was out patrolling and stole all my Britney Spears CDs. And since you were home all night by yourself with no one else around to distract you, then you should be able to tell me who did steal them."  
  
Lindsey stood silently for a few moments. He may be extremely annoying at times, but he knew when he was beaten in an argument. When he spoke again, his voice had lost any trace of smugness or petulance. "Maybe it was a burglar," he said meekly.  
  
"Really?" Tara asked. "Then I know a certain fifteen-year-old who's in big trouble for letting a burglar just come into the house and steal my stuff. I think the standard 'grounded for a fortnight with no TV' punishment should do."  
  
"Alright, it wasn't a burglar," Lindsey grumbled, finally admitting defeat. "You're so mean sometimes. I don't know why I put up with it."  
  
Tara held out a hand to her little brother. "Come with me," she said cheerfully. "You and I are gonna go get a couple of hot dogs, then we're gonna have a nice, long talk about the ethics of CD stealing."  
  
Reluctantly, Lindsey took his sister's hand, and the two of them headed for the nearby hot dog stand. As they departed, Xander couldn't resist a parting shot at Lindsey's back. "Yeah, that's what you get for crossing me, little man!"  
  
Buffy grinned, and smacked her boyfriend on the shoulder.  
  
"Ow! What was that for?"  
  
***  
  
Xander watched with amusement as Buffy looked at her watch. "Buff, that's gotta be the tenth time you've checked your watch in the past five minutes."  
  
"Well, it's getting really close," Buffy defended herself.  
  
"Really? Let me see." Buffy held out her wrist for him, and Xander looked at the little digital numbers of her watch. 11:54, they said. "Hey, you're right. Not long to go now."  
  
Buffy looked around. "Looks like Willow's not gonna show."  
  
"Well, she sounded interested when I asked her to come out here with us all tonight, but I think that was just an act. Willow's never been one for big crowds of people. Still, when you're a vampire who spent two hundred years killing lots of people before gypsies restored your soul so you'd have to live forever with the memories of all the horrible things you've done, it's not like you can really blame her."  
  
Buffy looked at her boyfriend, not speaking.  
  
"Besides, she's not going to be alone tonight," Xander continued. "Angel's there with her in L.A. I've haven't seen either of them in a long while now, but Willow and I still talk on the phone every once in a while. She and Angel have really grown a lot closer since Angel became Will's link to the Powers. She's doing okay. She's not lonely."  
  
Xander knew Buffy was watching him closely at the moment. Even to this day, the shadow of what he and the souled vampire had once had still hung over his newfound relationship with Buffy. Even to this day, he still caught the uncomfortable looks that momentarily crossed Buffy's face whenever Willow's name was mentioned in a conversation. It didn't matter if it happened during a private conversation between the two of them, or a Scooby meeting at Gunn's apartment with everyone in the group present. The look was on Buffy's face every time.  
  
"Hmm. Willow and Angel," Buffy mused. "I never would have picked those two to ever hook up. A few years ago, if someone had suggested it to me, I would have burst out laughing, then called the guys in the white coats and told them I think I'd found a prime candidate for their club." She lapsed into silence.  
  
Xander watched Buffy closely. "I guess Willow's always going to be a sore spot for you, huh?" he asked her, not really needing to hear the answer to know what it was. "Even after last night?"  
  
Buffy looked back at Xander silently for a few moments before she spoke. "She was your first, Xander. Your first love, your first ... everything. Plus, she had the vampire thing, you had the werewolf thing ... you kind of lived in the same world. I know I can never compete with that." Xander opened his mouth to argue that last point, but Buffy went on. "But that's not a problem for me anymore. I'm past it, and I know you've moved on as well." She looked down at the ring finger on her right hand, which had been bare just twenty-four hours ago. "Any more proof I needed of that, I got last night." She looked up at Xander, and smiled. "Although why you didn't give me this ring tonight instead of last night, I don't know. Would have been really romantic."  
  
Xander sighed melodramatically, earning a wry grin from his fiance. "Yeah, I know. I had planned to give it to you tonight, but ... well, I couldn't wait." He smiled. "When I finally managed to get home, and I walked in the door, and you were still up waiting for me even though it was after 1:00 in the morning, and you told me dinner was on the table, and it was still warm, I knew I just couldn't wait any longer."  
  
Buffy smiled at the memory. Xander had been over at Gunn's place the night before, helping him research the demon that was supposed to rise on New Years Eve, and it had taken a lot longer than either of them had anticipated. Buffy and Lindsey were at Buffy and Xander's apartment, enjoying one of Lindsey's Christmas presents from his big sister, a copy of "Toy Story" on video. Lindsey was staying the night over at the apartment while Tara spent the night in Los Angeles, where she had visited Dawn earlier in the day to see how her fellow Slayer was coping with prison life, and Buffy was playing babysitter for the evening. Lindsey had been sent to bed at ten, freeing up plenty of alone time for Buffy and Xander, whom Buffy had been expecting home a little before eleven.  
  
When Xander rang just before midnight to tell her that he was still stuck at Gunn's place with no sign of getting away soon, and that he hadn't been able to even sneak out for a bite to eat, she knew what she had to do. She took a frozen pizza out of the freezer, and put it in the oven. Hardly a six-course banquet, she knew, but it was the only thing she knew how to cook. She kept the meal warm until Xander finally arrived home, then served it up nice and fresh. Xander had seemed nervous throughout the meal, but when Buffy called him on it, he just shrugged it off absently. When they finished they meal, however, and Buffy took the empty plates over to the sink, then turned back around to find her boyfriend down on one knee before her on the tiled kitchen floor, it all clicked.  
  
"Well, I'm glad you couldn't wait," she told him now. "I couldn't have pictured it any better."  
  
"You mean, unless it had happened on New Years Eve with fireworks bursting all around us?" Xander asked, grinning widely.  
  
Buffy grinned back. "Yeah, of course."  
  
"Well, you know me. Patience was never really my strong suit." Xander leaned in, and kissed his fiance. The kiss was deep, passionate, and showed no signs of ceasing any time soon.  
  
All around them, the crowd stood up, and started to chant loudly: "Ten ... nine ... eight ... seven ..."  
  
Buffy and Xander didn't hear a word of it. In fact, if it wasn't for Lindsey's annoying shout, they would have completely missed the moment they had been waiting for all night.  
  
"Hey, you two losers! Get up and ring in the New Year with us!"  
  
Quickly, the two of them scrambled to their feet. "This is so your fault," Buffy said.  
  
"Hey, I didn't hear you complaining a few seconds ago."  
  
Buffy and Xander smiled at each other, then joined in the countdown.  
  
"... three ... two ... one ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!"  
  
As the fireworks went off, illuminating the night sky with bright and beautiful colours, Xander immediately swept Buffy in for another kiss. Beside them, Lindsey started making exaggerated kissing motions in their direction in a blatant display of juvenile mocking. Tara grabbed him by the ear, and started dragging him away. Drusilla and Fred watched as Lindsey was unceremoniously escorted away from them, and couldn't stop themselves from laughing out loud. Then Drusilla offered Fred her tub of popcorn back, and she took it.  
  
THE END  
  
***  
  
To everybody out there, all the best in the New Year. Have a happy and safe 2002. 


	2. New Year In Los Angeles

TITLE: New Year In Los Angeles (Part 2 of "Ringing In" series)  
  
AUTHOR: BulldogPhilbo  
  
RATING: PG  
  
FEEDBACK: See, it's this thing where you read someone else's fic, then you tell the person what you thought of it. The person gets enough good feedback, they keep writing. Everybody wins.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon? Yes. Me? No. Enough said.  
  
DISTRIBUTION: You want it? You can have it. Just let me know where to see it.  
  
PAIRINGS: Willow/Angel, Faith/Oz  
  
SUMMARY: The Willow Investigations crew ring in the New Year.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a companion piece to my previously written fic, "New Year In Sunnydale", and the second part of this two-part series. It's set in the same AU-verse as the first part. I don't think it's quite as fluffy as the first part, although it definitely has its moments. Hope you like, and Happy New Year.  
  
(* denotes thought)  
  
***  
  
Angel looked at his watch. 11:04. *Good. The guys should start showing up any minute.* And to prove the point, just as the thought went through his head, the doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of his first guest. *I hope it's Willow,* the seer thought to himself as he crossed the apartment to the door.  
  
It was.  
  
"Willow!" Angel exclaimed. "Don't just stand there, come in."  
  
Smiling a little, the vampire stepped into Angel's apartment. "Thanks for inviting me," she said.  
  
"Are you kidding? Like I was gonna let you sit all alone in that huge hotel and brood your way into 2002 like you did last New Year's Eve? I don't think so."  
  
Willow glanced around the apartment. "I'm surprised Anya even let me in without slamming the door in my face first this time."  
  
"Yeah, Anya always has had a bit of a jealous streak when it comes to you," Angel agreed. "I think she thinks you and I are an item."  
  
Willow turned back around to face Angel, and their eyes met. After a few moments, that familiar awkward feeling settled over both of them (as was so often happening lately), and they both looked away.  
  
Feeling the urge to break the silence, Angel cleared his throat, then spoke again. "She may be a g-h-o-s-t, but she's still more of a person, I say." For the past two years, Angel had been living in this haunted apartment, but with the resident ghost as friendly as this one was, it was much more of a convenience than it was a reason to run screaming out into the night whenever the room started shaking. Besides, the room never shook. Quite often, the fridge door would open for you whenever you got thirsty and went into the kitchen for something to drink, the light switch would turn on by itself when you walked into a room, that kind of thing, but the room never shook.  
  
Willow nodded. "Maybe Phantom Anya realises we have something in common. You know, because I'm more of a person than a v-a-m-p-i-r-e?"  
  
Angel laughed at that. Over the past several months, since Willow had come back to work with the group at Willow Investigations, her sense of humour had returned, back and better than ever. "I'd say Phantom Anya is developing quite the soft spot for you," he commented. *And she's not the only one,* he almost added, deciding to keep that statement to himself instead, at least for the time being.  
  
"So, is anybody else here yet?" Willow asked him.  
  
"Nah, it's just you and me so far. They shouldn't be far away by now, though. Do you want something to drink? I think I'm all out of A-pos until I hit the store tomorrow morning," he joked.  
  
Willow smiled. "Just some of that orange juice I had last time I was here if you have any left."  
  
"You bet. One O.J. coming right up." Angel headed for the kitchen. "Go, sit down," he told Willow. "Make yourself at home."  
  
The vampire with a soul crossed over to the living room, and sat down on the couch. The TV was on, currently broadcasting live pictures of large crowds of people gathering up and down the streets of Los Angeles, waiting to count down the final ten seconds en masse and ring in the New Year. Watching the people on the screen, Willow's mind started wandering, thinking back on the invitation she had received over the phone the day before yesterday from Xander, inviting her and whoever she wanted to bring along with her from L.A. to come up to Sunnydale and spend New Year's Eve with him and the rest of the Scoobies. Willow had feigned interest, but the invitation wasn't quite as attractive to her as Xander had tried to make it seem. One of the things she had loved best about Xander was the way he always tried to use as much enthusiasm as possible whenever he tried to talk somebody into something. There was a time when this quirk of Xander's never failed to amuse and entertain her, but this time, it only left her feeling mildly depressed as she hung up the phone, and nothing more.  
  
Angel came into the living room, handed a glass of orange juice to Willow, and sat down on the couch beside her. "So, how did your trip to see Dawn go tonight?" he asked, settling into the couch cushion, and putting his feet up on the coffee table.  
  
"Pretty good," Willow said. "I was actually the second visitor she got in as many days."  
  
"Who was the other one?"  
  
"Tara."  
  
Angel turned to look at Willow, his eyebrows raised. "Tara saw Dawn?"  
  
Willow nodded. "Yesterday."  
  
Angel whistled in amazement. "Wow. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall during that little visit. How did it go?"  
  
"Pretty good, according to Dawn," Willow replied, sounding a little surprised about it herself. "She hadn't seen Tara since the night she turned herself in, so she was pretty nervous about it. When they told her yesterday afternoon that she had a visitor, she thought it was me at first. When she sat down and Tara was on the other side of the glass, it gave her quite a start."  
  
"But they got on OK?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. They had a good talk, got a lot of things straightened out between the two of them."  
  
"Wow," Angel mused. "I never thought I'd live to see that happen. The last time I saw those two in the same place at the same time, they were at each other's throats. Not that you can blame Tara for that, though. I mean, Dawn wakes up from her coma, blows back into Sunnydale, switches their bodies, sleeps with Wesley, then takes off again once they switch back. She comes here, attacks you, tortures the hell out of Joyce, then Tara and Wesley show up, and Tara goes after Dawn yet again. Then, just when things are about to reach boiling point, Dawn turns herself in. All in all, a pretty eventful couple of days."  
  
Willow nodded, remembering. When Dawn first came to L.A. after the body- switching saga back in Sunnydale, Wolfram & Hart quickly swooped in on her like a spider with a fly, pointing her at Willow like a pistol. Willow had become quite a thorn in the side of the crooked law firm across town, and it seemed that every chance they got to mess with her in some way, they took. Being a vampire cursed with a soul, Willow had a lot of horrible memories that were still all too clear in her mind to endure, but the memory of watching Dawn crumble before her, the rogue Slayer with tears in her eyes and her knees buckling as she begged for Willow to end her suffering by taking her life, was perhaps the most horrible, in spite of the fact, or maybe because of the fact, that Willow had her soul at the time.  
  
Willow took Dawn in, and tried once more, just like she had done back in Sunnydale the previous year before Joyce's bumbling got in the way, to help her find her way back out of the darkness which had taken over her life since her arrival in the town on the Hellmouth. Any genuine chance of doing so was pretty much shot when Tara showed up, very angry, and looking for payback. Later that night, as Willow drove Tara and Wesley back from the police precinct, with Dawn now behind bars, finally able to try and find some peace, the Slayer and her boyfriend filled the vampire in on exactly what had transpired between the two Slayers in Sunnydale. While trapped in Dawn's body, Tara was almost kidnapped and taken to England by the Council, not to mention verbally abused and literally spat on by the Council's retrieval team, while Dawn set about ruining Tara's life, most effectively doing so when she seduced and slept with Wesley in his dorm room. The fact that Tara was able to talk about all of these things in front of Willow while Wesley sat next to her in the back seat of Willow's convertible showed signs that the two of them had been able to resolve the issue as best they could, but Tara and Wesley were never fully able to put what had happened behind them. They eventually grew apart, and when Wesley was offered a Teaching Assistant's position at a college in Seattle later that year, he took it.  
  
"But Dawn's still doing OK?" Angel asked Willow now.  
  
"Yeah, she's managing," the vampire answered.  
  
Just then, the doorbell rang again. Angel hopped up from the couch. "Hey! That's probably the other guys. Back in a second."  
  
"That's fine. Got my O.J. here. I'm good."  
  
Angel looked back at Willow for a moment, and smiled at her.  
  
***  
  
It was just after 11:30. Angel, Joyce and Faith were sitting on the couch, watching the New Years Eve celebrations on the TV, and talking idly. In the kitchen, Daniel Osborne sat on a stool at the center island, watching Willow as she grabbed five glasses from the cupboard above the sink and started pouring Coke into them.  
  
As she poured the drinks, Willow was aware of Oz watching her. The rest of the group was still getting used to the twenty-one-year-old. A little over five years ago, Daniel Osborne was a tenth grade student at Hemery High School, here in L.A. Then one morning, he missed the school bus, so he decided to walk to school instead. He never showed up at school that day, and was officially a missing person by the same time the following day.  
  
About six months ago, a case stemming from one of Angel's visions had resulted in Willow, Angel, Joyce and Faith being sucked through a dimensional portal, and into an alternate dimension called Pylea. It was there that they met Daniel Osborne. The young guy had been sucked through a similar portal five years earlier while on his way to school, he told them, and had been living in a cave, hiding from the locals, who didn't take too kindly to human beings, or "cows", as the green-skinned Pyleans referred to them. With a big assist from Joyce (the intelligence she gained from years of training to be a Watcher proving most helpful in figuring out how to open a portal back to their own world), the Willow Investigations team found their way back to Los Angeles, and they brought Oz (as the youth insisted they all call him) back with them. Since that time, Oz had become rather attached to Willow, the fact she was a vampire not deterring his attachment at all. Angel had been trying repeatedly to convince Willow to sit Oz down and explain to him why the two of them could never have a relationship together, but Willow was still hesitant to do so, afraid she'd hurt the young guy's feelings if she tried. On one occasion, she had suggested to Angel that the two of them should introduce Oz to somebody else, and this seemed to grab Angel's attention for just a moment, before he shrugged it off and changed the subject.  
  
Faith got up from the couch, and joined Willow and Oz in the kitchen. "What's taking so long with these drinks?" she asked good-naturedly. "We're wicked thirsty in here."  
  
Willow handed Faith a glass she had already poured. "Here, take this one."  
  
Faith took a large sip from the glass, then looked at Oz. "So, this must be your first New Year's Eve in a little while now," she commented.  
  
Oz nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's pretty exciting. They didn't really have calendars in Pylea. I mean, they probably did, but I didn't have one, so I had no real sense of time passing, or even what year it was. So I'm kinda getting used to all this calendar stuff again."  
  
"Well, you're among friends tonight, Oz, so enjoy it," Faith said cheerfully. Willow finished pouring the drinks, and handed one of them to Oz. Then she excused herself, taking the other three glasses with her, and went back into the living room to join Angel and Joyce in front of the TV. Faith and Oz stayed behind in the kitchen, talking some more. The two of them really got on well together, which surprised the rest of the group a little bit, as they really were from different worlds. When Willow first met Faith, the young brunette was leading a street gang downtown that hunted vampires. The two of them didn't exactly meet on good terms, what with Faith almost killing Willow and all during that first night, but over time, they became good friends as well as steady partners in battle, the two of them often standing side by side as they confronted whatever evil surprises the City of Angels had to throw at them. With Faith being the only member of the group who could hold her own against the souled vampire, it was an unspoken agreement within the group that should the unthinkable happen and Willow's curse be broken again, Faith would be the one to take her on.  
  
***  
  
As Willow came back in with the drinks, Angel shifted over to his left a little to make room for Willow on the couch. As he did so, he moved a little closer to Joyce. The two of them made eye contact, and shared a friendly smile. As Dawn's Watcher, Joyce had come to Sunnydale High School in Angel's senior year, and there had been a little sparkage between the two of them, despite the age difference. Nothing ever really came of it, though. Nowadays, the two of them were closer friends than anyone who knew them both back in senoir year would have thought, and that was just the way they liked it.  
  
"So, Joyce," Angel said to the ex-Watcher-turned-rogue-demon-hunter-turned- new-boss-of-Willow-Investigations. "Made any resolutions for the New Year?"  
  
"A couple," Joyce replied. "First, to not get shot in the stomach for all of 2002." She smiled, her hand moving to her stomach in the familiar gesture Angel doubted she even knew she was making anymore.  
  
"Well, duh," Angel interjected. "Maybe you'll get lucky and just cop the odd bullet in the shoulder next year."  
  
Joyce favoured the seer with an irritated glance that she was only able to hold for a moment or two before it gave way to a wide grin. The gunshot wound Joyce had suffered at the hands of a zombie cop had happened months ago. It was okay to joke about it now.  
  
"The second one ..." Joyce trailed off, her face growing serious again.  
  
"Joyce?" Willow gantly prompted her, suspecting she had an idea what the woman was about to say.  
  
Joyce took a deep breath, and resumed. "The second one is to do a better job of protecting the people I'm responsible for than I've done in the past. As Dawn's Watcher, I made some mistakes, and the prices that were paid because of it were incredibly steep. I think you guys putting me in charge of the agency was more of an honorary thing that anything else, but I'm going to take it seriously. And I'm not going to let a lack of compassion affect my judgement this time."  
  
Willow watched Joyce closely as she spoke. Last year was not a particularly happy time for any of them. The whole ugly business with Wolfram & Hart bringing Spike back, then finding out that they brought Willow's sire back as human, then Jonathan showing up and vamping Spike again, did more to screw with the souled vampire's emotional balance than anything she'd ever been faced with before. When Willow fired Joyce, Angel and Faith, after leaving Rupert Giles and all his Wolfram & Hart stooges to be brutally killed by Spike and Jonathan, the three humans set out on their own, determined to keep up the good fight, something which Willow hadn't been the least bit interested in doing. When the vampire came back to them months later and offered them her help, she knew that she'd have to work hard to earn their trust once more. And little by little, she did it. Confessing to having slept with Spike went a long way towards accomplishing it.  
  
The one major change to the Willow Investigations team since then was that Joyce was now officially in charge, and Willow tried to keep that in mind as best she could. Joyce had been doing a great job in leading the group, the rest of them all agreed, but it was obvious that the ex-Watcher believed she had her own mistakes which she would have to work hard to atone for. Joyce blamed herself for so many things, the fact that her Slayer was now behind bars being the obvious main thing. The fact that Gunn, her old colleague, had done a much better job with his Slayer had always been a sore spot for Joyce, but she was determined to put that past her.  
  
Willow had returned to the group, and the four of them had bonded together like they had never done before, and now was the time for resolution and atonement. And what better time to focus on these things than on New Year's Eve?  
  
***  
  
"Hurry up, you guys!" Angel called out. "You're gonna miss it!"  
  
Faith and Oz hurried in from the kitchen, and sat on the arms at opposite ends of the couch. "Have they started counting down yet?" Faith asked anxiously.  
  
"Not yet, you're just in time," Joyce assured her.  
  
Five pairs of eyes turned to the TV screen. The large crowd of people were readying themselves to count down the final ten seconds of 2001, and the five members of Willow Investigations were doing likewise.  
  
"Here it comes!" Oz exclaimed excitedly.  
  
"Ten ... nine ... eight ..."  
  
As the countdown started, Faith, Joyce and Willow glanced at each other, and shared a knowing smile. They had been planning this for over a month now.  
  
"... seven ... six ... five ..."  
  
As the countdown continued, Willow took hold of Angel's hands in hers. Angel turned to face Willow, still counting along with the crowd on the screen, and looked at her, smiling curiously.  
  
"... four ... three ..."  
  
As the countdown neared its conclusion, Oz became aware that Faith had gotten up from the other arm of the couch, and was now standing just behind him. He looked up at her, and she held a hand out toward him. Instinctively, he took it, and the beautiful brunette pulled him to his feet.  
  
"... two ... one ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!"  
  
On the TV screen, the crowd erupted in a loud cheer, and in Angel's living room, the five members of Willow Investigations did the same. Knowing what was about to happen, Joyce got up from the couch, and went into the kitchen, where she could watch on without getting in the way.  
  
Angel and Willow were still seated on the couch, looking into each other's eyes, Angel still with that curious smile playing at the corners of his mouth. His eyes widened as Willow leaned in towards him. Gently, the vampire pressed her lips to his. After a couple of moments, Angel responded, and the kiss deepened.  
  
Behind the couch, Faith and Oz stood in front of each other. Faith reached up, and gently placed her hands on either side of Oz's ace. "Faith?" Oz asked nervously.  
  
"Shh," Faith responded. Moving slowly, she leaned in, and kissed him. Oz pulled back after a moment, and looked at Faith with a confused expression. Faith was starting to become worried that she had offended him, but as she opened her mouth to say something, Oz leaned back in, and returned the kiss.  
  
Above the four of them, a large group of brightly coloured streamers descended from the ceiling. The two couples in the living room barely noticed their appearance. The woman standing in the kitchen couldn't help but laugh in delight at the scene before her.  
  
"Nice work, Phantom Anya," Joyce said softly.  
  
***  
  
It was just after one in the morning. Joyce had left the party about fifteen mnutes into the New Year, and Faith and Oz had left together not long after, leaving Willow and Angel stuck with the streamer clean-up. It was taking them quite a while; Phantom Anya had put on a spectacular show for them, considering the smallness of the living room.  
  
"So, how long were the three of you planning that?" Angel asked.  
  
"Not long," Willow lied innocently. "We pretty much threw the whole thing together like that." She demonstrated her point with a quick click of her fingers.  
  
Picking up the last of the streamers and setting them on the kitchen table, the two of them returned to the living room, and sat down on the couch together.  
  
"So, where did this all come from?" Angel asked her, smiling.  
  
"Well," Willow began slowly, "Faith's had a thing for Oz for a while now, but she was afraid to say anything to him about it before tonight in case she scared him off. Remember when you told me we should introduce Oz to someone?"  
  
Angel nodded.  
  
"That's what gave me the idea for tonight. I took it to Joyce first, and she liked it, then we both talked Faith into going along as well."  
  
"And you and me?"  
  
Willow paused for a moment before answering. "Well, that's a longer story, but ... Xander called me on Saturday."  
  
Angel's smiled disappeared at that. "Oh. What did he want?"  
  
"To invite us all up to Sunnydale to ring in the New Year in the park with him and Buffy and the rest of the group. He said it'd be a fun time. You know how he likes to talk that kind of stuff up a lot."  
  
Angel nodded, his smile slowly returning. "Sounds pretty generous of him. So, tell me, if we had the chance to spend New Year's Eve in a park with all of our old friends, why did we spend it in my cramped little apartment instead?"  
  
"Because I don't belong in his town, or in his life, anymore," Willow answered simply. "And I'm glad about it."  
  
Angel was surprised by this answer. "What do you mean?"  
  
Willow looked at him closely for a few moments before speaking. "Xander was the first person I ever really loved, but it always seemed obvious that we didn't fit." The words started to come easier for the souled vampire, now that she had finally been given a chance to get these things off her chest. "It's only fitting that the 'perfect happiness' clause in my curse effectively destroyed what Xander and I had, because for all that we went through together, we never really experienced a lot of happiness."  
  
Willow looked down at the floor. Angel sat silently, letting her speak. He knew that talking about these things had to be very hard for her, so he gave her all the time she needed to get through it, never interrupting.  
  
"At first, the only real quality time we ever had together was spent fighting vampires and demons, and with Xander not having any Slayer- strength, or vampire-strength, or any other kind of strength, unless you counted the three nights a month he was a werewolf, he tended to stand back and let Tara and I do the majority of the fighting. Then we slept together, and I turned evil, and I killed his parents, and I tried to kill him. If Tara and Buffy hadn't been there to stop me, I would have. Then Fred restored my soul, and Tara sent me to hell just moments later. After I came back, Xander and I both knew that there was no chance for us anymore. We both tried to deny it for as long as possible, but it was a waste of time."  
  
Angel reached out, and took a hold of Willow's hands. The vampire continued to look down at the floor, but she seemed to relax a little through the touch of their hands.  
  
"So, I came out here to L.A. And Xander and Buffy found each other. And I couldn't be happier for them. Buffy can give him the normal life I never could, and that's what he deserves."  
  
Willow looked back up at Angel, and he was surprised by the look he saw on her face. He had expected to see sadness, maybe a tear or two. But Willow looked content, almost happy. Sensing that she wasn't finished yet, Angel kept quiet.  
  
"When Xander called me on Saturday, it was the first real conversation we had in over a year. We call each other from time to time, but we don't really talk about much, just trivial stuff. I pretended to be interested when he invited us all up there, but I always knew I was never going to take him up on it. And I'm pretty sure he knew the same thing. Then, when I hung up the phone, I realised something. We've moved on. Both of us. I never thought I'd be able to get over what happened between Xander and I and move on to new things ... new people ... but I have. It just took hearing his voice again, and turning down the opportunity to see him again, to realise it." She stared at Angel closely now. "And I've also figured out how it happened. What it was that helped me to move on with my life ... or unlife." She smiled a little at that last part.  
  
"What was it?" Angel asked, but he already knew the answer.  
  
"It was you," Willow said simply. "You're the reason. You're the constant that's kept me hanging in through everything that's happened in the past two and a half years. You were always there for me, even when I didn't deserve to have anyone. Even when I wasn't aware of it, I never gave up hope, and it's because you've helped me to see that there's always something worth hoping for. Like friends ... or peace ... or love."  
  
Angel leaned in close, and kissed her again. Whe he pulled back, he could see the tears that were forming in her eyes, and knew by the smile on her face that they were happy tears. "So, did you enjoy your New Year's Eve?" he asked her, wiping the area under her eyes dry with his thumbs.  
  
Willow smiled at him again. "Yes, I did. And to think I almost spent it brooding in the dark again."  
  
Angel couldn't help but laugh at that. When Willow joked about her own remarkable ability to brood, you knew she was in a good mood.  
  
"How about you?" she asked him.  
  
Angel pretended to think hard about his answer. "Well, the night remained vision-free for me, so I can't complain. Thank God the PTB know when to let me have an enjoyable night with my friends and celebrate a special occasion in peace. All in all, it's been a really good night."  
  
They leaned towards each other again, their faces mere inches apart.  
  
"Happy New Year, Angel."  
  
"Happy New Year, Wi..."  
  
Suddenly, Angel fell off the couch and collapsed to the floor, groaning loudly, his hands flying up to grasp his temples tightly. Panicking a little, Willow dropped to the floor beside him, and put an arm around his shoulders. "It's OK," she said soothingly to him. After a moment, his groans ceased, and he started breathing easier. "Ssh, it's OK. What did you see? Are you in pain?"  
  
Just then, Angel looked up at Willow. As the vampire watched, a smug smile grew over the seer's features. "Gotcha," he said.  
  
Realizing she had just been royally suckered in, Willow put on her best mock look of annoyance, and playfully swatted Angel on the shoulder.  
  
"Ow! Vampire strength!"  
  
***  
  
"So, what do you wanna do now?"  
  
Oz looked over at Faith. "Feel like a taco?"  
  
Faith smiled, and held out a hand to him. "Let's eat. I'm driving."  
  
THE END 


End file.
